2017 Walleye/Sauger Photos

Here’s a place to show your walleye sauger.

Here are two Saugers from my first ever LOTW trip. We went out of Sportsman. Nothing huge but we caught over 20 fish in two days. Great Trip and Better memories. Both were around 14″.

Here’s two 27″ 8.5#
And a 28.5″ 10.5#
From yesterday

Your just showing off compared to mine… great fish.

26.5″, 27″, and 27.5″ all from Mille Lacs this year.

Here’s two 27″ 8.5#
And a 28.5″ 10.5#
From yesterday

I spoke with a number of people leaving the water on Sat and Sun. Everyone said the bite was slow….then there’s Andy.

Goes to show that SOMEONE is always catching fish on the river.

There was one fella that was very disappointment in his catch of two eater fish. I said to him, just think about the last two times you were out ice fishing, how did you do compared to today?”

He smiled and said, “got me there and it was great to get out in the boat again”

Check for boat registration stickers! Every year people leave them to put on “later when it’s warmer” and the sheriff ends up reminding them on the River.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Goes to show that SOMEONE is always catching fish on the river.

It was really hard to keep those passing by convinced we were bored!

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Here’s two 27″ 8.5#
And a 28.5″ 10.5#
From yesterday

Pretty good day when you break your PB weight twice within an hour! Could not believe the girth on those fish, a truly special day.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I spoke with a number of people leaving the water on Sat and Sun. Everyone said the bite was slow….then there’s Andy.

To be fair, I heard the scour hole bite was a bit soft yesterday :).

And to be honest, I didn’t ask where these people were fishing (or what baits they were using).

Hey guys….new to the Mississippi River fishing. Have a 1850 Crestliner Pro-Tiller (90 hp Merc) with a Terrova bow mount. Fished below the Winona/Fountain City dam first time and had a hard time keeping bait vertical. Looking for someone to give me some lessons….any takers? Fished the wall along the lock and had to small nibbles…..did not see a lot of fish caught….pretty slow.

Db where you from? Im on pool 3 and 4 a lot if you’re in the area and ever want to go shoot me a message

db035970 wrote:

Hey guys….new to the Mississippi River fishing. Have a 1850 Crestliner Pro-Tiller (90 hp Merc) with a Terrova bow mount. Fished below the Winona/Fountain City dam first time and had a hard time keeping bait vertical. Looking for someone to give me some lessons….any takers? Fished the wall along the lock and had to small nibbles…..did not see a lot of fish caught….pretty slow.

i would like BK to answer this, because he has a great analogy on current and were fish hangout

i think if you’re having trouble keeping vertical ur probably in too deep of water and too fast of current. the heaviest jigs i use are 3/8 “most often 1/4” so if i cant feel bottom and move to a different spot

my $0.02
easiest way i keep vertical it to have the boat pointed with the bow upstream and use ur Tmotor on constant. if you notice ur jig dwnstream of ur position throttle back a bit and if ur jig is upstream of ur boat give it a lil throttle. however, depending on the current you may have to use the momentary function instead of constant.
then there are times when the wind comes upstream “quite OFTEN” and you might have to point ur boat bow dwnstream

Sidenote,
Andy invited me this wkend but i choose different… drrrr

db035970 wrote:

Hey guys….new to the Mississippi River fishing. Have a 1850 Crestliner Pro-Tiller (90 hp Merc) with a Terrova bow mount. Fished below the Winona/Fountain City dam first time and had a hard time keeping bait vertical. Looking for someone to give me some lessons….any takers? Fished the wall along the lock and had to small nibbles…..did not see a lot of fish caught….pretty slow.

To keep bait vertical you simply need to drift with the current, at the same speed as the current.

Bigger the jig the more forgiving it is to staying vertical… However best practice is to use the lightest jig you can to while remaining vertical.

I actually prefer a drift downstream where my jig is 45° behind the boat… Or at whatever speed the plastic starts to do its thing…

I think that “most of the time” if a person needs a 1/2 oz jig, something is wrong.
Rod, can’t feel the bottom
Line too thick and the current takes it.
Too deep
Too fast of water although the current isn’t as fast at the bottom of the river as it is in the middle or top side. More so if there are obstructions on the bottom. There may be fish there but the presentation is messed up.

Doc Frigo told me this once and it holds true when I have my camera down.

Think of walleyes this time of year as pregnant women in a park on a windy day. They get tired easy. They want to get out of the wind and they want the ice cream and pickle cart to come to them. (Ok I added that Doc).

They will look for obstructions, rocks, boulders and so on to get out of the wind much like the lady is looking for a protected park bench along the trail so the ice cream cart can find her.

In other words “fish the current seams” where the fast water meets slower water. Generally this is closer to shore but not always.

Over jigging is the most frequent cause of fishlessness on the river.

Disclaimer: I talk a big game but couldn’t catch a walleye if paid…I’ve tried.

Usually a bass guy but all my South Dakota buddies swear by the Walleye. Caved in and ended up sticking this hog right out the gate. First open water eye of 2017 for me!

Once I got some decent rods with the right sensitivity river fishing changed for me. Most of the fish I caught the last few weeks I wouldn’t have felt on the tree trunks I used to fish with.

I don’t think you always need to be vertical but you need the right weight to keep jigs in the strikezone. For me, that’s usually just a few inches to a foot off the bottom and speed will vary depending on appetite.

If I have to go to anything more than 3/8th’s to keep near the bottom usually the current is too fast (for jigs and plastics). I might go a bit heavier on a dubuque rig.

22″ from Hastings in mid-February.

25 incher out of pool 2 this morning. Was the only one I caught but is my new personal best.

April fools 26.5″.

May 7.

those are some funny looking catfish FishBlood. looks like those pesky walleye are interrupting the action.

here’s a couple iowa eyes, post spawn

five minutes later

My wife out fished me in February. Good thing there’s a few more months left to the 2017 season. Here’s her 27″ eye.

my iowa pig! 28 incher i got a month ago.

5 year old fishing stud

25″ from opener on Leech

Same face, different fish! 28″, Wisconsin River, hair jig.

Epic trip to SoDak. Son caught 25, 27 inchers. I caught 28.5 and my daughter caught her first walleye ever – 29.25!!!

Dude that walleye is huge!! Nice catch for your daughter and nice guiding there